IPL 7: Tambe takes season's 1st hat-trick, scripts Rajasthan's 1st 'home' win

AhmedabadLegspinner Pravin Tambe claimed the first hattrick of the season and skipper Shane Watson picked up three wickets to script Rajasthan Royals 10run sensational win over Kolkata Knight Riders in their maiden Indian Premier League IPL match at their newly adopted home the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera on MondayAfter a 121run stand between openers Robin Uthappa 65 and Gautam Gambhir 54 Knight Riders suffered a dramatic batting collapse losing six wickets for two runs and could muster only 160 for six in 20 overs while chasing a target of 171Knight Riders also became the first team in the history of IPL to lose a match after scoring a centuryrun stand while chasing a targetGautam Gambhir in action against Rajasthan Royals on MondayIt seemed Knight Riders had the match in their grasp as they were cruising at 121 for no loss in the 15th over They needed 49 runs from 35 balls as both Gambhir and Uthappa were going great guns Gambhir smacked six fours and a six in his 34ball whirlwind knock while Uthappa hit three sixes and five fours during his 52all stayBut Gambhirs dismissal triggered a batting collapse as Knight Riders lost six wickets for just two runs and were suddenly reduced to 123 for sixFirst it was the triple strike from Watson in the 15th over when he got rid of Gambhir Uthappa and Andre Russell 1 in five balls to reduce Knight Riders to 122 for threeIn the next over the 42yearold Tambe picked up his maiden hattrick in just two legal ballsTambe had Manish Pandey stumped by Saju Samson with a wide delivery in the first ball and then took a good catch off his own bowling to get rid of Yusuf Pathan He completed the hattrick by dismissing Ryan ten Doeschate with a tossed up delivery that hit the Dutchmans toe for him to be adjudged lbwThe Knight Riders failed to recover from the deadly blows and it was Shakibal Hasans unbeaten 21 in 14 balls that helped them reduce the deficitEarlier acollective effort by Rajasthan batsmen saw them reach a respectable score of 170 for six in their first IPL encounter at home todayPut into bat inform openers Karun Nair 44 and Ajinkya Rahane 30 gave a good start while Sanju Samson 37 and skipper Shane Watson 31 also made useful contributions to prop up the scoreSunil Narine was again the pick of the bowlers grabbing two for 28 in four overs while R Vinay Kumar also got a couple wickets despite being smashed for 42 in four oversRahane flicked Vinay off the very first ball of the match to start the innings in right earnestIn Yadavs second and fourth over of the innings he carted the pacer for a four and a six off successive deliveriesWhen Narine dropped one short he drove the Mystery Man through the covers as Royals reached the 50run markKarun Nair of Rajasthan Royals plays a shot during his innings against Kolkata Knight Riders at Motera stadium in Ahmedabad on MondayHaving reached 30 off 22 balls with the help of three fours and a six Rahane looked set for a big knock before it was cut short by a direct throw by Narine from short fine leg position Rahane who was running to the strikers end could not make it despite a full stretched diveThe opening stand between Nair and Rahane yielded 52 runs in 63 oversYoung Nair however carried on in his calm and calculative manner as he added another 53 with the talented Samson He may not be one of the explosive players on the block but find of Karnatakas triumphant Ranji season certainly has the technique to play top quality bowlingOn two occasions he used his feet to sweep Shakib al Hasans deliveries He also got a six with a mishit off a Yadav fulltoss that flew over deep square leg boundaryHowever the wily Shakib got his revenge when he cleverly bowled it wide outside off and the batsman had no chance with keeper Robin Uthappa completing the stumpingNairs 44 came off 35 balls with four boundaries and a sixSanju played a few streaky shots as he got a couple of boundaries early on in the innings of Andre Russell Having scored 37 off 29 balls Samson fell while facing the 30th delivery as he was holed out at deep midwicket boundary trying an ugly hoick off NarineSkipper Watson played his hand as he hit a couple crushing sixes off Vinay one over long off and other straight into the sight screen But Russells antics of stopping on his delivery stride before completing the delivery broke his concentration as he was holed out in the deep with Suryakumar Yadav taking a well judged catch at the boundary lineWatsons 31 came off 20 balls with two fours and equal number of sixes However it Rajat Bhatias six off the last delivery that took Royals score to 170